


The Best Thing I've Done

by Ethala



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, I just tagged it because I'm Garcy Trash okay., If they were just given the chance to TALK DAMN IT, Pre-Garcia Flynn/Lucy Preston, Pre-Season/Series 02, These two characters are so similar, kinda sorta canon compliant but only accidnetly, ugh I have so many feeling about Timeless I don't want to dredge up again, written pre-season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-15 23:11:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18679216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethala/pseuds/Ethala
Summary: Flynn opening up to Wyatt for a begrudging heart-to-heart leads to a revelation that connects Flynn to Lucy more than he knows."It was a life he didn’t need to kill anyone to save, Wyatt thought."





	The Best Thing I've Done

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is the first fanfic I’ve ever written down completely… ever. I mostly just headcanon or bullet point (because I get way too carried away with details)  
> Inspired by an au edit by @onlymorelove on tumblr  
> I wrote this with Garcy in mind (because I was/am so deep into the trash fire that is Garcia Flynn yall) But It’s kind of a Garcia Flynn & Wyatt Logan fic, even though Lucy is mentioned. 
> 
> It's from more of Wyatt’s perspective, and is set with Flynn is a member of the Time Team. (remember, I wrote this before season 2)

 

“What’s one of the best things you’ve done in your life?”

The question was quiet and honest but startling as it broke the long-settled silence between the two men. Garcia Flynn shifted his sitting position against the wall of the abandoned warehouse they were held up in. The Rittenhouse sleeper agent had been looking for them but there had been no sign of activity for a few hours. Rufus was off rummaging through old crates looking for something useful.

Flynn gave Wyatt a suspicious sidelong look, wondering where this was coming from. “I’ve just been thinking-“

“Wyatt, don’t go straining yourself now.” Flynn interjected, his deadpan snark having no off button. Wyatt let out a scoff and continued, annoyed.

“Have you ever done anything good in your life?” The tone was argumentative, rhetorical, more in line with their typical dynamic. “I mean… besides your family.” His voice eased up on the last few words, gesturing with his hand. Wyatt was apparently set on making an attempt to bond with the once-villainous man, if begrudgingly.

Flynn  _was_  going to say his family, his daughter Iris specifically: A common father’s sentiment that his children are the best thing he could ever contribute to the world.

It was the obvious answer.

But disregarding that, he wasn’t sure.

Flynn leaned his head back against the wall in contemplation as he worked his jaw.

The silence stretched on and Wyatt let out a single breathy laugh, shaking his head. Why was he trying to connect with this bitter, broken person at best, and a monster at worst?

“You’re helping us now, but before that, you were set on carving a bloody streak through history regardless of who got in your way.” Wyatt was an honest man. He didn’t like to lie, and he didn’t like to feign kindness over being genuine.

“Have you done anything, helped anyone, that didn’t include the death of someone else?”

Wyatt knew he was walking the line of hypocrisy. He knew Flynn could call him out, both men had been career soldiers in their own fields, NSA and Delta Force respectively, and both had done so many awful things, bloody things, mostly for the sake of freedom and duty. It’s difficult to draw the line of where it broke-even.

“I pulled a driver out of a car crash.” Flynn said, unfazed by Wyatt’s accusing tone earlier.  

Wyatt was taken aback by the answer. He honestly didn’t expect one. Maybe some ‘kill one, save a thousand’ instance that often came from war, but he didn’t want that. He was tired of that, and a small sympathetic part of him honestly hoped for an alternative.

“I didn’t cause it, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Flynn continued, turning his head to look at Wyatt. “Not quite as grand as toppling regimes, or rescuing hostages from a warlord, but…” Flynn let his sentence trail off. With a small shrug, he shifted back to facing forward, inspecting his gun.

 

_It was a life he didn’t need to kill anyone to save_ , Wyatt thought.

 

Flynn looked away, his face shifting as he came to a decision.

“They drove right off the road.” Flynn said, confused by the driver’s actions. He wasn’t looking at Wyatt, only half-talking to him as he recounts the event.

“Some teenager, probably still drunk from the night before, given that it was barely sunrise. I heard the accident more than saw it.  _Screech, bang, splash_. I was driving around the bend but I wasn’t an idiot, I knew what had happened.”

“ _Splash_?” Wyatt thought out loud, previously visualizing the other man dragging someone from twisted metal or just before an inferno. Flynn gave a glance of acknowledgment to him as he continues.

“The car was halfway underwater by the time I pulled up. I called out and there was no one on the shore so I dove in. God, The water was freezing.” Flynn sounded irritated by the event but Wyatt saw the small shutter as if he could still feel the shock of cold. He was a little stunned at seeing this level of humanity from the man he often deemed a psychopath.

“Where was this? Bulgaria? Serbia?”

“No, West Coast. United States.”

“Really? What were you doing there?”

“I wanted to see the Big Cats at the zoo.” The amount of sarcasm emanating from that statement was enough to kill an elephant. If Flynn didn’t want to tell him about that, fine.

“The junker’s door was stuck but the window must have cracked when it hit the guardrail. I kicked it in, pulled her out, swam us back to shore. It was so dark, I thought she might be dead. She hardly moved underwater while I was getting her out, but it must have been the shock from the cold or the crash. She was trembling before we even reached the bank.”

Flynn paused. Wyatt couldn’t read his face. Whether he was considering what to say next or judging the actions of his past self, Wyatt wasn’t sure. A strange chill was slowly creeping its way down his spine though.

“At that point, there were other people pulled up and on the bank to help. So I left.”

Wyatt was cut off before the obvious questions could leave his mouth;  _You just left her? Why didn’t you stay? Did you get her name?_

“I wasn’t supposed to be there. I wasn’t supposed to be in the country, let alone some back road in California.”

A moment.

“Well, it’s a good thing you were.” Flynn glanced sidelong at Wyatt, giving a stiff nod. “Otherwise that kid would have died.” Something was clawing at the back of Wyatt’s mind.  _What was it?_

“'Kid’ is an overstatement. She was probably in high school or college. But that was, what, 15 years ago?” Flynn started to mutter to himself. Time travel can mess with your perception of time a bit. “2003… Yeah, 15 years.”

Wyatt froze.

Flynn let out a sigh, not noticing Wyatt “She could have a family of her own by now… Or she could have died on her way to the hospital from internal injuries. Or died a week later from pneumonia.”  _Wow, way to be a buzzkill_ is whatWyatt would say but his mind was reeling as realization dawned on him. Pieces fell together from a puzzle he didn’t know he was solving.

It’s not possible. He- No. He- No. He- NO. Wyatt’s brain refused to believe it.

 

_**Lucy!** _

 

2003? Lucy would be a sophomore at Stanford. Did he-

No, you can’t travel through your own lifetime.

A young NSA asset crossing paths with an endangered undergrad at just the right time, even before Rittenhouse was on anyone’s radar.

 

_I don’t even think he knows!_

 

What the hell was this String of Fate that keeps connecting Lucy Preston to Garcia Flynn?

 

Wyatt’s face must have been priceless. Flynn finally turned to look at him, face-hardened.

“No matter what good deed you do, who you help, you can never be  _sure_  if it will make any difference.” 

_Given that it’s LUCY you saved from drowning 15 years ago as she was driving to her mother’s house to tell her she was quitting school to join a band, I’d say yes. You made a difference._ It was almost funny, but Wyatt truly didn’t know how to feel about this.

The next thing Flynn said when he turned away was much quieter, but Wyatt still caught it.

 

“You can only hope.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So I posted this on tumblr a while ago, BEFORE season 2! Which is a bit wild to me because it COULD be canon compliant and fit somewhere in the middle of season 2, but I actually wrote this between the seasons. This was way before I got an ao3 but I'm actually super proud of this little one-shot.
> 
> The original Tumblr link:https://ethala.tumblr.com/post/173198483724/the-best-thing-ive-done


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